Conservatives host gun range fundraiser

By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express

Media outlets around the country were buzzing last week about the Oshawa Conservative Electoral District Association holding a fundraising event at an Orono gun range.

Oshawa Conservative candidate Colin Carrie says he doesn’t see what the big deal is.

“It’s an event that’s enjoyed by everyone that comes out,” Carrie said at the Orono gun range. “Sport shooting is a huge part of Canadian heritage.”

Carrie, who sat on a parliamentary outdoors committee that introduced MPs to sport shooting, says there is still a lot of misinformation on the sport in the public realm.

“It’s frustrating to see the ignorance that’s still out there about the sport,” he said. “This is all under the purview of trained safety officers and it’s a sport that two million Canadians enjoy.”

“Not family friendly”

Not everyone was pleased over the choice in venue, however, with one Oshawa candidate voicing his displeasure over the advertising of the event as family friendly.

“There is nothing about a gun that is family friendly – most especially when it comes to younger family members,” Liberal candidate Tito-Dante Marimpietri wrote in an open letter to Carrie. “I am father to two young daughters, and I believe many local families feel the same as I do – my job as their father is to keep them safe, as far from danger as possible.”

The event was advertised as a family friendly event on the Oshawa Conservative Electoral District Association’s Facebook page.

Mary Fowler, the NDP candidate for Oshawa, says she would not comment on where the Conservatives choose to host their fundraisers.